Zolani Kupe

Like A Girl - Poem by Zolani Kupe

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Like a girl whose feet are bleeding and swollen From walking a long, Long distance to school Like a girl who pants in pangs and pains Because she works tirelessly Doing this and that You know these domestic chores. Like a girl whose clitoris is protruding Not because she is longing for the stick But because someone has forced himself into her Like a girl whose genitalia leak blood Not because she is in 'time' But because she has been raped Like a girl who sings alone In melancholia, a girl who cries alone Because she remembers her dead parents Who cries and curses AIDS Like a girl who sits alone in the dunes In secluded spaces and prays much Because she has lost hope in life Like a girl who sits in the staircase And looks at the horizon and ponders over her burdens Over her thousand predicaments Like a girl who looks at the sky At night, who counts stars hoping that one day The One who created those amazing stars Will answer her prayers Like a girl who dances in the darkness Who listens to the music to soothe the pains Like a girl who wants no man Because she believes men bring curses with them Like a girl who plays alone A young girl who plays alone in the yard Like a girl who cannot go to school Because she has to take care of her siblings Like a girl who will survive no matter what Who will continue achieving unachievable goals in life Like a girl who has a soldiers’ courage